The Rangers struggles may have hit a nadir this weekend with back-to-back losses Friday and Saturday to the Bruins and Flyers. Friday, New York had a lead with a bit more than five minutes to go, but an ill-timed and stupid penalty on Jesper Fast gave Boston a power play, which they converted to tie it. Late in the game, the Bruins controlled play for close to a minute before David Krejci's shot hit off a d-man, changed direction and went last Henrik Lundqvist for the game-winner.
Saturday, without Derek Stepan due to his broken ribs - more on that below - New York came out strong. Unfortunately, that solid play last only about 12 minutes before Philly took over the game, controlling tempo and possession. A too deep pinch by the D resulted in Wayne Simmonds getting a half-step, which he used to gather a pass from Sean Couturier and beat Antti Raanta for the only goal the Flyers would need. It would get worse, as Raanta was the only reason it was 1-0 into the third. Then, Simmonds was able to go from right to left in the middle of the offensive zone with no resistance and Couturier was able to get two whacks at the puck in front, finally beating Raanta on the second one. An empty netter by Simmonds late made the final 3-0.
New York had been playing with fire for a while but it finally came back to burn them. The loss a bit over two weeks ago to Tampa was one example. Against Florida, it was the four goals allowed, further evidencing the defensive breakdowns. Montreal exposed the Rangers throughout in a 5-1 win that felt and looked even worse. Then this weekend's debacle where opposing forwards were able to roam with no resistance and protecting the front of the net was a foreign concept to all. The issues that have existed for a while show no signs of abatement and in fact appear to be getting worse, as seen by the team's recent play.
As said in the blog comments, they repeatedly overcommit in the defensive zone. Two-three players to the puck carrier, or needlessly chasing guys behind the net, leaving guys open in front. We saw this at times last year, especially against Tampa. This season, it would half bad if it was just 1-2 players guilty of it or it happens once or twice, but it is a repetitive thing nightly which looks to have filtered through neatly the entire lineup.
Larry Brooks summed it up well today:
How many Rangers have played well or up to their capabilities?The answer would be six: Lundqvist, the innocent bystander/victim of a storm created on Friday by Boston coach Claude Julien; Raanta; Mats Zuccarello; Oscar Lindberg; Kevin Klein; and Dylan McIlrath. That’s it.
Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi and Marc Staal are making a lie of their designation at the club’s Big Three on defense, one after another guilty of horrific breakdowns in front. Derick Brassard is not living up to his call as the Rangers’ first-line center by any stretch of the imagination. Kevin Hayes has dangled his way to nowhere both in the middle and right side, and all the while appearing as casual as they come.
If not for the two goalies, 16-6-2 would be a lot closer to .500 at best given that major issues on this team. The D-combinations are not working. Whether it's Girardi bringing down McDonagh or Staal making stupid mistakes, as he did Friday, when he had a chance to clear or hold the puck before Krejci's game-winner but did neither. Maybe it is a talent issue or a fatigue issue, but I believe it's possibly the former way before the latter.
Yandle has not proven to be the difference maker we thought but this one I do put on the coaching staff. In Phoenix, many of his points came via the PP or when he was allowed to carry the puck and create chances along with mistakes. The current system requires a pass first and then the D to join not carry the puck. That is not Yandle's strength. Maybe AV needs to use Yandle on the top PP and also allow him at times to play to his strength. Pair him with McIlrath, who would be defensively responsible, or maybe Girardi, who could hang back a bit and let Yandle create.
For all the complaining we have done on Boyle, he actually has been one of the team's better d-men. It's just become too easy to criticize him and not focus the spotlight on others. The problem is who to sit for him to play. Lately, it's been McIlrath. If AV truly will go on merit, others should sit. But look at the contracts and salary for G and Staal and Yandle and who would you sit since McDonagh, despite his struggles, and Klein deserve to be out there? For all the suggestions of calling up Skjei, again, same question, who is sitting? Unless a deal is made to add a top-six forward, none of the defenseman are going anywhere. Plus with no-trade and movement clauses, it would not be that easy to move any of them anyway.
Kreider at least knows that his play has been far from where it needs to be, as Brooks wrote today. It's good that he knows he has been horrible, but what will he do about it? But for the rest of the team, especially Brassard and Hayes, who really need to help carry the offense with Stepan out, will they recognize and actually step up? Brassard was great early, since then, it's been Zucc and recently Rick Nash carrying the team. Hayes has been invisible while Stalberg, Moore and Stoll have also done little or next to nothing. The combination of all of this has resulted in stretches where the offense looks offensive at best. Hopefully, Etem can fill a bit of the breach enabling the Rangers to survive Stepan's offense.
With Stepan out, the burden on a few grows substantially. The goaltenders will need to play at a level on par where they were before this recent losing streak. The blue liners have to get their heads out of their rears, or if not, changes either to combinations or personnel are required. The lack of cap space makes calling anyone up difficult or near impossible, so the names noted above are the ones that have to produce. If not, this losing streak could get a lot worse, and if not for the "cushion" created by the winning streak, the team could be in even more trouble than they are now.
Friday's incidents:
There were three separate incidents Friday that got Rangers and Bruins fans as well as twitter-sphere talking:
Beleskey non-interference:
Marchand skates into Lundqvist's stick immediately before the goal. Rangers didn't challenge. pic.twitter.com/4Q1qqN3ir6
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 27, 2015AV didn't challenge the goal because Beleskey made contact with Lundqvist's stick above the blue paint of the crease. There is no question contact was made. But the lack of a call - which per the rules - was correct likely had an impact on what transpired when Marchand made contact with Lundqvist later.
Beleskey hit on Stepan:
Beleskey hit on Stepan pic.twitter.com/bl6pHfvb4V
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 27, 2015The lack of a penalty on Beleksky's hit on Stepan changed the game. At the time, the score was 2-1 Rangers. In the aftermath of the hit, McIlrath rightly stood up for his fallen teammate and ended up getting the instigator two minutes. That gave the Bruins, who have had a dominant PP, a man-advantage on which they converted. Plus, on the play Stepan broke a few ribs. Plus, when you factor in what happened later on the touchy call on Fast that led to the tying goal, yet this went uncalled, you can see why Rangers' fans and players were so annoyed.
Other angle of the hit:
another angle pic.twitter.com/dQjsBWQrJN
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 27, 2015From Ty's Blog: “I just think he didn’t think I was gonna hit him,… Beleskey, who finished the night with five hits in just over 12 minutes of time on ice, said of his hit on Stepan. “He kind of didn’t brace himself. I didn’t take any extra strides or anything like that. Maybe, maybe, a little bit late. But he saw me coming, I came from the front. So it’s unfortunate that – I think I just saw he’s injured, so hopefully he’s all right.…
On the latter, Stepan is clearly not alright, as he will miss at least a month with broken ribs. He clearly did not expect to get hit since it was a decent amount of time after he released the puck. The hit was called a second late, though to me that time would be if you used the old Boston Garden timekeeper late in a game when the Celtics had the ball with a shot to win - slow clock. The hit was not in front of him as it looked to the side and it came near the boards. Add it all up and that's why the Rangers are so upset at it.
Losing Stepan is huge. As written in the blog comments, "Top 6 forward who plays on the top powerplay unit, top PK unit, and is probably the teams best 2 way forward. With how suspect the team defense has been this year, Stepan is a huge loss." While Stepan wasn't having the greatest of years, he was putting up points while serving as a 1 or 1a pivot man who had a tremendous amount of responsibility.
Marchand hit on Lundqvist:
overhead pic.twitter.com/gCqLhiQI2K
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 27, 2015If you want say Hank embellished, go ahead and I can't argue much. But after not getting a call when Beleskey hit his stick earlier, he likely felt he had to make sure the officials saw this way. Marchand clearly made contact with Lundqvist's head with his knee, which is why the penalty was called. Maybe you could call offsetting if you believe he embellished but the initial hit was deserving of a penalty.